Medical appliance



C. B. HUGHES.

MEDICAL APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED APR-2.1921.

Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

C. B. HUGHES. EDICAL'APPLIANCE. APPLICATION FILED APR. 2. 1921.

Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

OFFICE.

CHARLES B. HUGHES, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

MEDICAL APPLIANCE.

Application filed April 2,

To all whom it may concern Be it knownthat I, CHARLES B. HUGHES, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Medical Appliances, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to medical appliances, and particularly to appliances for electric medical treatment.

These appliances ordinarily include an induction coil. This is objectionable from the fact that the current from the secondary of an induction coil is very irregular and is consequentlydecidedly unpleasant to the patient.

The general object of my invention is toprovide an electrical therapeutic appliance which does away with the induction coil and which is so constructed as toproduce either a sinusoidal uninterrupted current or asinusoidal interrupted current.

A further object is to provide a construction of this character using no coils or bat- .teries, but, in which the current is taken directly from the ordinary electric light socket supplied with either direct or alternating current.

And a further object is to provide means for very simply but delicatel regulating the amount of current desired.

' Another object is to provide a mechanism of this character which, by manipulation of the switch, may be caused to deliver an interrupted sinusoidal current or an uninter rupted current as desired.

Other objects willappear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the, accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of my improved medical appliance;

Figure 2 is .a perspective View thereof;

Referring to these drawings, 10 designates a wooden base which, under ordinary circumstances, will be about 6" wide and 12" long, or of any other suitable length and width, my apparatus being mounted upon this base. Disposed in the base is a screw-threaded socket 12 adapted to receive the ordinary screw-threaded plug whereby current may betaken from the house lines. The screwthreaded socket 12 has one of its terminals connected to a lamp socket 13 by a wire 14 Specification of Letters Patent.

1921. Serial No. 457,951.

and this lamp socket in turn has one of its terminals connected by a wire 15 or other conductor to the rotative axis of a switch 17. T1118 switch is movable into or out of electrical engagement with'two spaced contacts 18 and 19. The contact 18 is connected by a wire 20 tothe electro-magnet 21 and from the other terminal of the electromagnet a wire 22 extends to the spring 23 of an armature 24 coacting with the pole pieces of the magnet. An outwardly directed spring 26 is adapted to engage with .a screw-threaded stop 27 in the usual manner and this stop 27 is electrically engaged with the wire or conductor 28.

Mounted upon the board 10 by brass clips 29 and 30 is a bar 31 of graphite, lead, carbon or other suitable resistance material and having a resistance of about 300 ohms. Extending parallel to this bar 31 is a fiber guide bar 32, and moving upon this fiber guide bar 32 is a slide 33 having a contact finger 34L which contacts withthe resistance bar 31 and having a screw-threaded eye 35 which engages a metallic screw 36 mounted in brass supporting brackets 37 and 38. One end of this screw 36 is provided with a handle 39 which is insulated from the screw, whereby the screw may be turned. The fiber bar 32 is mounted in supports of insulating material 40. One of the brass brackets 38 is connected by means of a wire 41 to a binding post 4L2 on a metallic applicatoror terminal 43 of any usual or suitable construction.

From one'end of the resistance bar 31 extends a flexible conductor 44 which is connected to the binding post of another terminal or applicator 45. The wire 28 previously referred to as leading from the screw 27 of the interrupter is extended to the brass supporting bracket or equivalent member 29 and from thence a conductor 46 leads to the contact member 19 of the switch. It has been heretofore stated that one terminal of the socket 12 led to the lamp 13 and the other terminal of this socket is connected to a wire 47 which is connected to the brass strip 30.

When a sinusoidal make and'break current is desired, the switch 17 is thrown to engage the contact 18, which contact is in series through the interrupter magnet 21 with the resistance bar 31. When an unbroken sinusoidal current is desired, however, that is a current having an unbroken Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

smooth wave form, then the switch is shifted to contact 19, which cuts out the interrupter and puts the switch directly in series with the bar 31. The sliding contact 33 moves over the fiber bar 32. The current passes through the sliding contact 33, through the brass rod 36 to the brass bracket 38, and

from thence to wire 41 vand the terminal member 43. The strength of the current 1s, of course, determined by adjusting the slide 33 longitudinally upon the fiber bar 32, thus increasing and decreasing the strength of the current in the well known manner.

In the use of this appliance, current is provided through the. socket 12, as before explained, and the current flows through the lamp mounted in the socket 13, then to the switch, thence to and through the 1111361 rupter in the usual manner, caus ng the v1- bration of the armature in the ordinary way, then by wire 28 to'the.metallic strip .29, thence to and through the resistance bar 31, thence to the finger 34 to the slide 33 and i along the metallic screw 36 to the supporting bracket 38 and thence by wire 41 to the ter -minal' 43. The current flows through the body of-the patient to the terminal 45, thence by wire 44 back to the rod 31, thence by the brass strip'30 and conductor 47 to the negative terminal of the screw plug 12. I

Where is is not desired that the current shall be an interrupted current, the switch is turned to the contact 19, in which case the current flows from the plug 12 to the lamp socket 13 and through the lamp, thence to theswitch and contact 19, thence by wire 46 to the brass strip 29, thence along the. resist ance-rod"31 to the slide 33, as before stated,

thence along the screw 36 to bracket 38 by Wire 41 to terminal 43, thence to terminal 45 to'the body ofthe patient and back again, through strip 30 and wire 47 to the, plug. In one case a current of aperfectly smo'th, regular, sinusoidal character is produced,

and in the other case the current is interrupted. In neither case, however, is the current irregular, such as is produced where an induction coil'is used. A 50 or -watt 120 volt lamp is "disposed within the lamp socket 13 and preferably the resistance bar 31 is approximately 10 long. All wires are connected to the exposed portions of the apparatus from the under side of the base board. This apparatus is very compact and convenient, may be handled and moved to any place desired, may be carried by a surgeon in his regular surgical case, andmay be used anywhere where a regular alternating current is available.

series with one end of a longitudinally exsocket thereon and a switch thereon, the,

switch having a switch arm and two contacts, one terminal of the plug socket being connected to a terminal-of the lamp socket, the other terminal of the lamp socket being electrically connected to the'switch arm, a'

longitudinally extending resistance bar, metallic members engaging the ends of the resistance bar, a conductor leading from one of said switch contacts directly to said metallic connection, an interrupter, a connec tion leading from the other of said switch contactsto the interrupter, a conductor lead- ,ing from the interrupter to the last named metallic member, a metallic slide having sliding electrical engagement with the resistance bar, a support of non-conducting material upon which the slide is mounted, a metallic screw-threaded member engaging said slide to shift it, one end of this screw-threaded member being insulated, an electrical conductor electrically connected to the other end of the screw-threaded member, an applica- .tor to'which said last named conductor is connected, a second applicator, and a conductor leading from this applicator to the other end of the resistance bar, and a conductor leading from the other terminal of said plug socket to the metallic member through the last named end of the resistance bar.

3. A therapeutic appliance of the character described comprising a wooden base, a bar of resistance material operatively supported upon said base and having metallic members at its ends, a rod' of-non-conduct means whereby it may be rotated, a metallic bracket supporting the opposite end of the screw, an applicator having a flexible conductor leading to the bracket, a plug receiving socket mounted in the base, a lamp receiving socket mounted in the base,-a switch a mounted on the base and having a switch arm and two contacts, one terminal of the plug socket being connected ":0 a terminal on the lamp socket and the other terminal on the plug socket being connected to the switch arm, one of the contacts of the switch being connected to a metallic strip at one end of the resistance rod, an interrupter including an electro-magnet and an armature, an electrical connection from the other contact of the switch to said interrupter and from the interrupter down to said last named metallic strip supporting the resistance bar, a flexible conductor leading from the opposite end of the resistance bar and 10 connected to a second applicator, and a conductor leading the plug socket to the metallic strip at the adjacent end of the resistance bar.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my 15 signature.

CHARLES B. HUGHES.

from the other terminal of I 

